Sen. George Voinovich's decision not to seek a third term provides a rare opportunity for ambitious Ohio politicians to seek one of the state's grand prizes without having to go through an incumbent.

But while many names were mentioned after Voinovich's January 2009 announcement, only three major-party candidates eventually chose to run. Rob Portman, a former congressman and Cabinet member, is unopposed for the Republican nomination. In November, he will face the winner of a May 4 Democratic primary between Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Primaries often pose difficult choices because they involve members of the same political family who agree on most issues. That is certainly the case for Ohio Democrats.

Fisher, 58, has been in politics most of his adult life. A former state legislator from Shaker Heights, he was elected Ohio attorney general in 1990 by 1,234 votes. He lost re-election in 1994, then the governor's race in 1998. Four years ago, Ted Strickland tapped Fisher -- by then head of the nonprofit Center for Families and Children -- as his running mate. For the first two years of the Strickland's term, Fisher ran the Ohio Department of Development.

Brunner, 53, was a Franklin County Common Pleas judge before winning her current job in 2006. Much as her GOP predecessor, Ken Blackwell, had been, Brunner became a partisan lightning rod during the 2008 presidential campaign as both sides jockeyed for any edge in the struggle for Ohio's 20 electoral votes. When Election Day brought no significant problems, she became a Democratic folk hero.

Both Fisher and Brunner started running as soon as Voinovich bowed out. Fisher's entry was expected, the logical next step in a long career. But Brunner stunned party leaders, who assumed that she would seek re-election as secretary of state, keep her seat on the Apportionment Board and help them redraw legislative boundaries in 2011. Despite the party establishment's heavy-handed attempts to derail her -- including the release of embarrassing tax information about her family -- and Fisher's overwhelming fundraising advantage, Brunner has stayed in a race that polls say is very close.

Brunner's refusal to play by the rules of the old boys club is one of the things that makes her so refreshing as a candidate. Unlike almost any politician we can remember, she says she is not running for re-election because she has accom plished her goals and refuses to run again simply to run again. She takes gutsy stands on issues such as single-sex marriage and Afghanistan without Fisher's hesitation or maddening flood of modifiers. She would bring a maverick's sensibility to Washington -- a city that could use it.

But Brunner's preference for quick decisions and her disdain for nuance and second thoughts are also her undoing. As secretary of state, she made some good calls: Dissolving Cuyahoga County's dysfunctional elections board leaps to mind. And she made some terrible calls, including an egregious decision to reject thousands of GOP absentee ballot requests on a technicality. Although she now says the job taught her to collaborate, Brunner's style tends to be tough and top-down. She needlessly alienated some local elections officials and experts and still leaves the impression that she'd cross a busy street to argue with a Republican.

As much as Brunner's contentiousness may excite the Democratic base, it's unlikely to change the ugly tone in Washington. In the end, she and Fisher would compile very similar voting records, but Fisher's smooth, seasoned approach seems more likely to build the alliances and strike the pragmatic compromises that successful legislating requires.

After all, he started his political career at age 29 in the Ohio General Assembly. He was conscientious and thoughtful there, a reminder that over the years, Fisher has proved a better public official than a candidate. He knows his issues -- almost too well: The man can deliver an oh-so-carefully phrased 10-point answer to the most innocuous question. Once regarded as a textbook liberal Democrat, he earned the respect of the business community for trying to understand its needs and to make Columbus a more effective partner, even during an economic meltdown -- and even as the point man for an administration that too often seems to regard Northeast Ohio as a stepchild.

Either Democrat will face a very tough battle against Portman in what figures to be among the most expensive and closely watched Senate races in the country this fall. Either could carry the party banner with gusto.

But Fisher is more likely to be an effective senator for Ohio. That's why he should be the Democrats' choice.

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